Ashley And Barcelona (In The Same Article?)

Last updated : 14 November 2014 By Footy Mad - Editor

Sammy 'Clown Feet' - A graduate but already tipped to leave

Newcastle United's Alan Pardew has adopted a continental approach in the transfer market in recent times, and Mike Ashley questioned the lack of chances given to graduates, having ploughed milliions of pounds into the academy.

Joe Kinnear told the Chronicle during his time at Newcastle: "Mike Ashley has put a lot of money into the academy, and I have seen the figures and Alan Pardew has spent £10million on young players.

"Perhaps it's time to see some of that money being well spent."

Opta Pro's data shows that, on average, Newcastle have had 1.6 club-trained players on the pitch in Premier League games.

But, Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul counts as part of this.

Krul joined Newcastle from ADO Den Haag’s youth academy aged 17 in 2005, and is part of the system.

So the 0.6 is down to fringe players in the squad - Paul Dummett and Sammy Ameobi - with Steven Taylor (coming through from a different decade) not playing that many games.

Arsenal and Southampton are the top two clubs in the Premier League when it comes to having club-trained players on the pitch, with their figures at 3.9 and 3.5 per game respectively.

The figures in Spain show Barcelona at 7.2, which is staggering considering they are regarded as a "buying" club.